


Revelations

by barrylen



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (Nora's the one making it angsty), (don't worry Iris and Barry aren't being dicks), Coming Out, Family Dynamics, Gen, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 04:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16422290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barrylen/pseuds/barrylen
Summary: Coming out to her parents had definitely not been part of Nora's plan.





	Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> Really happy that I managed to finish this before next week's episode, cause I'm kind of ~~really~~ anxious about whatever happens with Iris and Nora, ahhh!
> 
> I swear I didn't intend to make this even remotely angsty but here we are lol. I almost made myself cry. /o\
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy anyway! <3

“Ow!” Nora cursed under her breath, grimacing as she stuck her hand under the faucet. The cold water made her flinch, but the pain relief was almost immediate. “Dammit.”

“You okay?” Wally stood in the door to the S.T.A.R. Labs kitchen, brow furrowed with worry.

“I’m fine,” Nora said and sighed, getting a tea towel to dry her hand on. The blister on her finger looked nasty and hurt like hell, but she could already feel the tender skin prickle as it regenerated, the pain slowly receding. “It’s just a bit hard to remember sometimes that having super-healing doesn’t mean I can’t get hurt at all.”

She shrugged, giving Wally a self-deprecating smile. He made a sympathetic sound.

“Yeah, I get it. Here, let me do it.” He carefully took the kettle from the stove and poured hot water over the tea bags in the two mugs on the counter. He pulled a face when he saw the flavor, setting the kettle back down. “Really? Chamomile?”

Nora snorted. “Lots of honey for me, no honey at all for Mom, ‘cause she’s weird.” She bounced on the heels of her feet. “I hate making tea. Or cooking. Cooking is the _worst_. No way to speed it up, you know?”

Wally grinned. “You don’t have to tell me. Barry loves cooking, though. He’s pretty good at it, too.”

“Really?”

“Mm-hm.”

Nora picked at the string of her tea bag. “Maybe he can teach me… I don’t think I’d be a good student, though. I always get distracted.”

“Hey, don’t put yourself down,” Wally said, leaning against the counter. “If something’s not your speed”—she reached over to slap his arm—“you shouldn’t force it, you know? It’s just gonna make you feel worse, if you can’t get into it. I guess that’s something I learned from my time with the Legends.”

“Thanks, Uncle Wally.” Nora smirked. “You’re very wise for your age.”

“Oh, shut up.”

Her mom peeked into the kitchen. “You kids almost ready?” They both rolled their eyes at being called ‘kids’, making her laugh, “Barry should be here soon. Oh, you made tea!”

Nora handed her the cup after getting rid of the tea bag, careful not to burn her fingers again.

“Thank you,” her mom said softly, a smile on her face that could only be described as wistful.

She’d been doing that a lot—look wistful—since Nora had… _introduced_ herself to her family. Even more so since Nora and her dad had told them about the reason she had gone back in time.

“Are you sure you want to play board games with three speedsters?” Wally asked her mom, grinning, and Nora shot him an exasperated look when her eyes widened.

“Well now she’s definitely not going to do it.” Nora blew a strand of hair away from her face.

“Yeah…” Her mom heaved a sigh, “Maybe that wasn’t my greatest idea. How about a movie instead? We can watch one of those weird nerdy ones your dad loves.”

There was a snort from the door, and they all turned around to see Nora’s dad stand in the doorway, laughing softly.

“They’re not nerdy, you’re just uncultured,” he said and came into the room, wrapping an arm around Nora’s mom’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to her hair even when she scoffed. “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.” She gazed up at him, squeezing his hand in hers, and Nora’s heart broke a little.

She’d never seen her mom light up like that, face soft, looking almost carefree. So full of _love_. She knew that there’d been a few dates with other men years after her dad had vanished, but no one ever seemed to spark her interest. Her mom had never really gotten over the loss, still hoping after so much time had passed that maybe he would come back. Still waiting for a miracle to happen.

Nora reached for her own cup of tea. This time, the hot china against her palm was grounding.

She put on a bright face. “So, how about that movie?”

 

*

 

“Oh my god, that’s so cheesy.” Nora scoffed. “‘I know’? Really? She tells him she loves him and he replies with _I know_?”

Her dad seemed to find her little outburst extremely funny, barking a laugh. Wally just rolled his eyes.

“Oh, speaking of! I never asked—” Her mom grabbed the remote and turned the volume down, much to her dad’s and uncle’s chagrin. “Are you in a relationship in the future? Any cute boyfriends?”

Nora’s blood ran cold. She swallowed thickly and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“You know, funny thing—it’s not that I don’t like boys—Well, I mean, that’s kind of the point…”

Not for the first time in her life she wished that she was able to contain her word vomit better. Crap.

She laughed nervously, grimacing when her parents just looked confused. Wally reached over for the remote and turned the TV off, startling all of them. He shot Nora a concerned look.

“You sure, XS? It’s okay if you don’t.”

It took her a moment to decipher what he meant. She sank back into the sofa with a huff when she did.

“Seriously? How’d you know? Since when?”

She couldn’t look at her dad’s furrowed brow, at the way her mom slowly set her drink down on the coffee table. The possibility of just speeding away to somewhere remote to escape the conversation was almost too tempting. She tried to tamp down on the vibration running through her veins.

“A few days.” Wally grinned sheepishly. “Remember the magazine you borrowed from me? The way you gushed over that Rihanna photoshoot was kind of a giveaway.”

“Oh. Right.” She ran a hand through her hair, noting with exasperation that cold sweat had gathered on her temples, and hoped that nobody noticed that her hands were shaking.

There was no going back now, was there? Maybe if she could reverse time just a tiny little bit…

“What are you talking about?” Her mom’s eyes were narrowed. “Are you—”

“I’m gay,” it burst out of Nora. A sound like a hysterical sob escaped her and she shot up from the couch in an abrupt motion, turning away from her family to press her hand against her mouth. She exhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t like boys. At all. So… no boyfriends!”

There was a shocked kind of silence behind her, and she couldn’t stop herself from letting out a bitter laugh. Of course. Well _done_ , Nora. As if her mom needed another reason to resent her. As if she could afford to alienate her dad—

“I’m sorry,” she said, still facing away from them, voice a lot steadier than she felt. “I’m just gonna… go.”

“No, hey.” Her mom’s voice was suddenly close behind her, and a second later there was a hesitant hand on her shoulder. “C’mon, look at me.”

Nora huffed an annoyed sigh but turned around, jaw clenched as she pointedly did _not_ look at her.

“Can I give you a hug, Nora?”

Nora’s gaze snapped to her mom’s. Instead of a look Nora’d expected—confusion, or hurt, or even anger—there was so much sympathy radiating from her, a small smile on her lips that almost looked regretful and sad. Like an apology.

Tears sprang into Nora’s eyes, and she felt her lip wobble, and she couldn’t do anything but nod tightly and let her mom embrace her. It’d been so long since she’d hugged her mom, _so long_ , that the feeling of her arms around her, of the warmth of her chest when she pressed her head to it, the soft curls of her hair tickling her cheek, was overwhelming.

Nora clenched her jaw to swallow down another sob, but the tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes were unstoppable.

“Shh. It’s okay,” her mom murmured into her hair. “It’s okay.”

Another pair of arms wrapped around both of them—Nora smiled a little, knowing it was her dad.

“You know we’d accept you and love you no matter what, right?” he said.

Nora shrugged, pressing her lips together. “Sure.”

Her mom pulled away, squeezing her shoulders and considering her like she was trying to solve a particularly complicated puzzle. She didn’t need to take a look at her dad to know he probably looked the same. Nora glanced over her shoulder to see that Wally’d made himself scarce.

“Do I—do I not react well in the future?” There was a frightened undertone in her mom’s voice. How ironic.

Nora took a step back to dislodge her parents’ hands on her. She refused to feel bad about it.

“I’m not exactly… out to you, Mom.”

There was a sharp intake of breath. “Oh.” A pause. “Nora, what happens between you and me in the future? How—how can I make it up to you?”

Nora’s dad wrapped an arm around her mom’s shoulders. He looked deeply troubled, and Nora realized with a start that her mom was holding back tears.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Nora said, shaking her head. Her mom opened her mouth to say something but Nora cut her off, “It’s fine, _really_. Thank you. For, you know.”

“Of course,” her mom said, voice only a whisper.

Nora forced herself to get over it, just for now, and pulled her parents into another hug. The contact made her breathe easier immediately, made her heart calm down a little.

Coming out to her parents had definitely not been part of Nora's plan, but maybe it wasn’t so bad. Maybe it wasn’t bad at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments and kudos are ♥!
> 
> Come find me on [tumblr](http://barrylen.tumblr.com)!


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